Poker Timeline
I thought it would be interesting for some of you to read about how I started Poker as well as how I progressed up until now. I have had a lot of emails about this so here is as much information as I am going to give you!
Dates are estimated but will be very close to accurate.
Mid September 2003: I have recently made a late switch from Undead to Humans in Warcraft 3 for the upcoming World Cyber Games in South Korea. Humans were very imbalanced at this time and were guaranteed a huge advantage in the event. NTT who had been talking to me about Poker for some time finally persuades me to try it out. Whilst training for WCG I can also be found playing the play money tables at Pokerstars for fun.
Early October 2003: Still training for WCG but also playing more and more poker for fun. NTT during this time gives me $50 to try the real money tables. I start at the $5 NL Hold 'em tables with blinds of 1 and 2 cents, I manage to blow it all in one night. I then persuade Daishi to lend me $50 which I build up over a few days to a couple of hundred dollars. I stop all poker and concentrate on WCG which is only days away.
Mid October 2003: I fly out to Seoul to take part in the WCG. I get through my group stages winning 4-0. I then meet my fellow team mate 4K.Grubby in an unfortunate match-up in the very next round. He wins 2-1 and knocks me out ending my gaming career. 4K.Grubby is currently considered by many to be the best Warcraft 3 player in the world having won the World Cyber games in 2004. My predictions are confirmed about Human imbalance as Humans take Gold, Silver and Bronze in the solo event. I get a consolation Silver Medal in the Warcraft 3 team event partnering 4K.Bond to the finals where we lose to China.
October 31st 2003: With my gaming career now over in my head I take the plunge and borrow my mothers credit card to deposit $500 (Daishi's $50 is long gone) on Pokerstars. I have a decent amount of money saved from my Gaming Career so I am not freeloading here, I just had no access to Credit Cards at this time. In fact I was throwing away $2000-$3000 a month from Gaming (commentaries, training, prize money etc) to try and take up poker. A bit of a risk!
(Interesting anecdote about my Credit Card situation: I had a bad credit history and had been refused Credit Cards a couple of times in the past. Around Feburary 2005 with my new improved financial situation I again applied for two more credit cards. For fun I decided to apply for a Gold Visa and a Platinum Visa expecting to get refused. On the application forms for both of them I stated as my profession : Professional Poker Player and for expected yearly Salary I just made up a figure of $300,000. I sent the two applications off expecting to get refused. Two weeks later a brand new Gold Visa card with a $20,000 Credit line and a Platinum Visa card with a $30,000 Credit line arrived in the mail. Money talks =)
November 2003: I start at the $25NL Hold 'em tables with blinds of 10 and 25 cents. I drop all the way to $270 over a week of play and start getting worried that things won't go to plan. However, it turns out to be a minor blip and I build past my starting $500 investment at ferocious speeds.
December 2003: I have moved up to $50NL Hold 'em tables with blinds of 25 and 50 cents. By mid December I have already done a couple of cash outs of a few thousand dollars each. By the end of December I have moved up to $100NL Hold 'em tables with blinds of 50 cents and 1 dollar. I always keep 20 buyins in my account at Pokerstars as a minimum during my first year.
January - Mid Febuary: I am playing crazy amounts of poker during my initial months, all 200+ hour months. So a combination of skill+brute force is winning me a lot of money for the limits I am playing. I am playing 5 tables on one CRT monitor at 1024*800 resolution with lots of overlapping windows. I have cashed out around $20,000 by the end of Febuary and am now playing $200NL Hold 'em tables with blinds of $1 and $2 dollars.
Mid Febuary to Late Febuary: Myself and NTT during this time visit Las Vegas for fun staying at the Circus Circus Hotel(oops). We stay in Vegas for about 1 week soaking up the experience and playing only "Limit" poker. No Limit cash games do not exist in Vegas yet, this explosion was to start some months later during and after WSOP 2004. NTT accidentally loses his wallet and decides to go home early. I then continue on by myself staying in Vegas for a couple more days and then going on to visit my friend IceGod who stays in Spokane, Washington.
Early March - Late April 2004: I stay in Spokane for all this period teaching IceGod poker and just generally having fun. I buy a cheap desktop computer whilst I'm there to play poker. This is a very successful period for me as I make the transition from $200NL and $400NL to the maximum NL games at the time on Pokerstars. Which was $600NL Hold 'em with $3 and $6 blinds. It is also during this time that I qualify for the WSOP 2004 main event via Pokerstars.
May 2004: Pokerstars opens up a new higher limit of $1000NL Hold 'em with $5 and $10 blinds. I make the transition quickly to this new limit quickly becoming one of the strongest players there. It is now by this time very clear that I can become a very successful poker player, having made around $100,000 during this early part of my career.
Late May 2004: I travel to Las Vegas to take part in the World Series of Poker main event ($10,000 buyin, which cost me around $27 via satellites on Pokerstars). I meet up with Icegod whilst I'm there and we have some fun in Vegas for the week I am there. In the main event itself I manage to survive the first day which thinking back now is quite impressive to me as it was the first time I had ever played live NL Hold 'em. Also my first live tournament! I get to sit at the same table as Johnny Chan for a while on the second day before I go bust losing with JJ all in pre vs AK.
June 2004 - March 2005: This period is all filled with $1000NL Hold 'em mainly played on Pokerstars, however it is during this time that I start depositing on other sites and giving myself access to other games. This period is very consistent averaging probably $30,000 a month. I have also upgraded my monitors during this time to the Dual Flat Screen set-up which makes me even more efficient.
April 2005 - May 2005: Experience a terrible run of cards during this period testing my sanity to new extremes. It makes me lose all interest in the World Series of Poker 2005 and I put nearly no effort into qualifying for it and certainly no intention to buy in direct. WSOP is cancelled.
June 2005 - Current: Things get back to normal and I am now frequently playing as high as $5000NL. My regular mix is 2 big tables, $4000+ and 4-5 $2000NL tables. I have also switched entirely to short-handed games, nearly always playing 6 handed or less with maybe one BIG NL ring game. It is during this period that I stop cashing out entirely and focus on building my online poker roll to new extremes. August 2005 to November 2005 is my most profitable time of poker so far.... may it continue!
Total Poker Career: 2 years and 1 month.
I am a particularly careful and diligent player as far as bankroll management is concerned erring on the side of extreme caution. This means I am progressing at a slower rate than other people of a similar skill level. However, this absolutely guarantees I will not go broke no matter how bad of a run I get on. I consider money banked not part of my poker roll anymore so don't include it in any bankroll calculations.
Example of my own bankroll calculations : I don't believe in having more than 10% of my total poker roll in play at any one time and usually stick to 5%. For example if I wanted to play one 25/50NL, two 10/20NL and three 5/10NL tables my roll would have to be at least $120,000. If I wanted to play four 25/50NL tables then my roll would need to be $200,000. And if you ever happen to see me playing four 100/200NL tables then you know my online poker roll is at least $800,000.
I am purposely vague about my finances and will not answer any questions regarding them =).
Dates are estimated but will be very close to accurate.
Mid September 2003: I have recently made a late switch from Undead to Humans in Warcraft 3 for the upcoming World Cyber Games in South Korea. Humans were very imbalanced at this time and were guaranteed a huge advantage in the event. NTT who had been talking to me about Poker for some time finally persuades me to try it out. Whilst training for WCG I can also be found playing the play money tables at Pokerstars for fun.
Early October 2003: Still training for WCG but also playing more and more poker for fun. NTT during this time gives me $50 to try the real money tables. I start at the $5 NL Hold 'em tables with blinds of 1 and 2 cents, I manage to blow it all in one night. I then persuade Daishi to lend me $50 which I build up over a few days to a couple of hundred dollars. I stop all poker and concentrate on WCG which is only days away.
Mid October 2003: I fly out to Seoul to take part in the WCG. I get through my group stages winning 4-0. I then meet my fellow team mate 4K.Grubby in an unfortunate match-up in the very next round. He wins 2-1 and knocks me out ending my gaming career. 4K.Grubby is currently considered by many to be the best Warcraft 3 player in the world having won the World Cyber games in 2004. My predictions are confirmed about Human imbalance as Humans take Gold, Silver and Bronze in the solo event. I get a consolation Silver Medal in the Warcraft 3 team event partnering 4K.Bond to the finals where we lose to China.
October 31st 2003: With my gaming career now over in my head I take the plunge and borrow my mothers credit card to deposit $500 (Daishi's $50 is long gone) on Pokerstars. I have a decent amount of money saved from my Gaming Career so I am not freeloading here, I just had no access to Credit Cards at this time. In fact I was throwing away $2000-$3000 a month from Gaming (commentaries, training, prize money etc) to try and take up poker. A bit of a risk!
(Interesting anecdote about my Credit Card situation: I had a bad credit history and had been refused Credit Cards a couple of times in the past. Around Feburary 2005 with my new improved financial situation I again applied for two more credit cards. For fun I decided to apply for a Gold Visa and a Platinum Visa expecting to get refused. On the application forms for both of them I stated as my profession : Professional Poker Player and for expected yearly Salary I just made up a figure of $300,000. I sent the two applications off expecting to get refused. Two weeks later a brand new Gold Visa card with a $20,000 Credit line and a Platinum Visa card with a $30,000 Credit line arrived in the mail. Money talks =)
November 2003: I start at the $25NL Hold 'em tables with blinds of 10 and 25 cents. I drop all the way to $270 over a week of play and start getting worried that things won't go to plan. However, it turns out to be a minor blip and I build past my starting $500 investment at ferocious speeds.
December 2003: I have moved up to $50NL Hold 'em tables with blinds of 25 and 50 cents. By mid December I have already done a couple of cash outs of a few thousand dollars each. By the end of December I have moved up to $100NL Hold 'em tables with blinds of 50 cents and 1 dollar. I always keep 20 buyins in my account at Pokerstars as a minimum during my first year.
January - Mid Febuary: I am playing crazy amounts of poker during my initial months, all 200+ hour months. So a combination of skill+brute force is winning me a lot of money for the limits I am playing. I am playing 5 tables on one CRT monitor at 1024*800 resolution with lots of overlapping windows. I have cashed out around $20,000 by the end of Febuary and am now playing $200NL Hold 'em tables with blinds of $1 and $2 dollars.
Mid Febuary to Late Febuary: Myself and NTT during this time visit Las Vegas for fun staying at the Circus Circus Hotel(oops). We stay in Vegas for about 1 week soaking up the experience and playing only "Limit" poker. No Limit cash games do not exist in Vegas yet, this explosion was to start some months later during and after WSOP 2004. NTT accidentally loses his wallet and decides to go home early. I then continue on by myself staying in Vegas for a couple more days and then going on to visit my friend IceGod who stays in Spokane, Washington.
Early March - Late April 2004: I stay in Spokane for all this period teaching IceGod poker and just generally having fun. I buy a cheap desktop computer whilst I'm there to play poker. This is a very successful period for me as I make the transition from $200NL and $400NL to the maximum NL games at the time on Pokerstars. Which was $600NL Hold 'em with $3 and $6 blinds. It is also during this time that I qualify for the WSOP 2004 main event via Pokerstars.
May 2004: Pokerstars opens up a new higher limit of $1000NL Hold 'em with $5 and $10 blinds. I make the transition quickly to this new limit quickly becoming one of the strongest players there. It is now by this time very clear that I can become a very successful poker player, having made around $100,000 during this early part of my career.
Late May 2004: I travel to Las Vegas to take part in the World Series of Poker main event ($10,000 buyin, which cost me around $27 via satellites on Pokerstars). I meet up with Icegod whilst I'm there and we have some fun in Vegas for the week I am there. In the main event itself I manage to survive the first day which thinking back now is quite impressive to me as it was the first time I had ever played live NL Hold 'em. Also my first live tournament! I get to sit at the same table as Johnny Chan for a while on the second day before I go bust losing with JJ all in pre vs AK.
June 2004 - March 2005: This period is all filled with $1000NL Hold 'em mainly played on Pokerstars, however it is during this time that I start depositing on other sites and giving myself access to other games. This period is very consistent averaging probably $30,000 a month. I have also upgraded my monitors during this time to the Dual Flat Screen set-up which makes me even more efficient.
April 2005 - May 2005: Experience a terrible run of cards during this period testing my sanity to new extremes. It makes me lose all interest in the World Series of Poker 2005 and I put nearly no effort into qualifying for it and certainly no intention to buy in direct. WSOP is cancelled.
June 2005 - Current: Things get back to normal and I am now frequently playing as high as $5000NL. My regular mix is 2 big tables, $4000+ and 4-5 $2000NL tables. I have also switched entirely to short-handed games, nearly always playing 6 handed or less with maybe one BIG NL ring game. It is during this period that I stop cashing out entirely and focus on building my online poker roll to new extremes. August 2005 to November 2005 is my most profitable time of poker so far.... may it continue!
Total Poker Career: 2 years and 1 month.
I am a particularly careful and diligent player as far as bankroll management is concerned erring on the side of extreme caution. This means I am progressing at a slower rate than other people of a similar skill level. However, this absolutely guarantees I will not go broke no matter how bad of a run I get on. I consider money banked not part of my poker roll anymore so don't include it in any bankroll calculations.
Example of my own bankroll calculations : I don't believe in having more than 10% of my total poker roll in play at any one time and usually stick to 5%. For example if I wanted to play one 25/50NL, two 10/20NL and three 5/10NL tables my roll would have to be at least $120,000. If I wanted to play four 25/50NL tables then my roll would need to be $200,000. And if you ever happen to see me playing four 100/200NL tables then you know my online poker roll is at least $800,000.
I am purposely vague about my finances and will not answer any questions regarding them =).
posted by TillerMaN | 8:18 AM
16 Comments:
...so can you lend me a fiver? :P
Seems that so many bw (and wc3) players have moved to poker (including me) and done quite well - you exceptionally good. Good job! It's a nice read, keep up the good work! <3
Hey, from a fellow ex-bw player, I really enjoy your blog...especially since its not purely hand histories. I was thinking if maybe you can do a site review of the major sites like say, pokerstars, partypoker, ultimatebet, etc, and tell people what each site has to offer and which are softer for what perticular games :)
from whom do you learned poker? NTT? im playin 0.5/1 stakes after two months with a bankroll with about 700$ and you - on NL tables (how is it different?) - and you, after 3 months,
got cashouts of thousands of dollars..what the.. i poker about 2k hands a day and, of course, i dont play perfect poker all the time, but how the hell is it possible that you are so successfull after playing 3 months of poker T_T
best wishes
- Sleyde
Tiller! do you realize how much fans you have in war3? JUST COME BACK PLEASE. we'll get a charity going for it, if you want to be sponsored, k?
Nice to see you're doing well with your Poker :)
If you come across Jacob, please say hi.
- Allan/Cantona
Tillerman, no matter what anybody tells you, you must remember this one thing: Perfect Play, ok?
gl hf
I still kick your ass at Reflex.
;)
Abs
Nice history.
Are you sponsored by Poker Stars?
Woah, nice site dude.
Hi tillerman, im an sc fan. It's great to hear your doing well on poker and u enjoy it. I wish i liked poker and is as good as u poker gods.
gogogogo play more poker! later.
i like your site tillerman
Is playing poker easier or harder than being good at wc3 etc?
Wow, that's awesome that you were in the 2004 WSOP. I'd love to play in that. They were showing the best bluffs from the 2003 series and some guy laid down 3 Jacks after the flop (pocket pair and 1 on the board). It was the most brutal laydown I had seen -- I think it was against Farha.
Keep up the good work.
Note: I'm from Canada not the US :)
Interesting post. Well defined timeline you have there. Here's mine: started playing poker sometime in the past. Developed a serious dislike for the game but don't have the discipline to get a job or a degree. Continued to play despite not getting any enjoyment out of it only to avoid the pressures of society. I'm a fucking loser. If any of you were entertained by Mike Matusow's antics in various WPT and WSOP events, prepare to laugh your asses off in a couple of years when I'll be in an even more ridiculous mental state.
The game always gives positive results if played with the Effective Gambling Tactics and techniques.
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